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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27041950">storm in the silence</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonsatdawn/pseuds/pigeonsatmidnight'>pigeonsatmidnight (pigeonsatdawn)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>lauki week 2020 ✨ [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys &amp; Sophism (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cold, F/M, I'm too tired to tag, Light Angst, Spice, That's it, have fun, snowstorm</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:53:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,239</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27041950</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonsatdawn/pseuds/pigeonsatmidnight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>shivers over your skin, shivers down your spine.</p>
<p>(i am just having absolute fun with all these alliterations.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>lauki week 2020 ✨ [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965910</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>79</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>storm in the silence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>the idea is: they’re in the cave when the snowstorm hits. the end.</p>
<p>apparently this is a spicier alternative to incalescence ch. 3, with the possible title “hotter”. which seems to be ironic considering the prompt is snowstorm. but I think you already know what you signed up for.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><b>They grandly failed</b> an infiltration. They trudged back through half the city while it was snowing heavily. They were drenched by the time they reached Kieran’s cave, and not even ten minutes later, the snowfall began to grow disastrous, turning into an entire snowstorm, to the rate where they couldn’t see anything outside, much less navigate their way home.</p>
<p>     They didn’t even have the energy to complain, as they were freezing in their wet clothes. “Out of all days, today was the one day I thought I would be fine without bringing a spare set of clothes, yet here I am, fucking <em> drenched</em>,” Lauren said irritatedly, taking off her heavy maroon coat, dropping it on the ground with a ‘thump’. At this, Kieran snorted, and proceeded to take off his own coat. </p>
<p>     “Looks like your amazing abilities don’t extend to foresight,” he commented, heading to his wardrobe to get himself and his temporary partner some fresh shirts to change into. He threw the thin shirt to Lauren, and said, “It’s not much, but at least it’s not cold and wet,” before proceeding to pry his own wet shirt off his strained body.</p>
<p>     Lauren quickly looked away, not granted the opportunity to get pissed at the fact that he’d just thrown a shirt at her face. She turned her back on him too, hesitating to undress herself where he was—the memory of his hands on her throat on the very place kept haunting the back of her mind, no matter how much she’d wanted to just ignore it. She knew it was right for her to be scared and cautious, but quite frankly, after all they’ve been through that night, she just wanted a break from her emotions, from anything, and just have a moment of rest, in that damned cave or elsewhere. But of course, the memories are preventing her from doing so.</p>
<p>     But she got changed nonetheless, not being able to bear the cold that kept causing her to shiver. She was still slightly trembling by the time she buttoned up his shirt, maybe because of her pants that she couldn’t just take off. When she turned around, she was caught by surprise upon seeing that Kieran had already been watching her. </p>
<p>     She wasn’t sure whether to feel embarrassed, offended that he’d invaded her privacy, or offended that he didn’t seem to be fazed by her half-naked state. She wasn’t even sure why it mattered at all.</p>
<p>     So she went for the most logical thing to say: “Don’t you know it’s inappropriate to stare at someone changing?”</p>
<p>     Kieran gave her a deadpanned look, walking past her towards his knife rack. “We’re both adults, darling,” he drawled, “and besides, it’s not anything I haven’t seen.”</p>
<p>     Lauren, just being the short-tempered person she normally was, impulsively grabbed a fistful of his dry shirt, spinning him around. It was, in retrospect, quite foolish, as he was now already equipped with a knife that he pointed to her throat, digging into the flesh of her neck so subtly. “What, are you going to try to prove otherwise? Didn’t know you were <em> this </em> seduced by the monstrous assassin. Shall we spar, for good times’ sake?”</p>
<p>     “You know what?” Lauren grabbed his wrist and spun him around, so that the knife in his hand was pointing at his own throat, his back pressed against her. She used this opportunity to grab a dagger for herself from his knife rack. “Now that you mention it: I’ve never gotten payback for what you did to me. So sure, I’ll have some fun beating the absolute <em> shit </em> out of you.”</p>
<p>     She jammed her knee to his butt, and he had to stop himself from groaning too loudly out of pain. She wasn’t quite finished: she proceeded to jab her elbow to his left side, then grab his shirt to lift him up, just to kick him square in the abdomen. He fell on his butt, but when she was going in for another kick, he grabbed her ankle with his left hand, pulling her entire body down on the ground with massive force, and hastily flipped himself over so he could press his knee against her body, rendering her immobile.</p>
<p>     Kieran made the mistake of letting a momentary sigh, because Lauren then used the hilt of her dagger to strike against his chest, which caused him to lift the force of his knee from her body and allowed her to roll away. Now she was back up, and he was still sitting on the ground, looking at her like a predator awaiting prey in its trap. </p>
<p>     Lauren wanted so much to smack the damn face out of his face. He wasn’t even being smug or underestimating or anything—he looked serious, estimating her next move, eyebrows set, jaw tense, eyes glaring in a way that made her feel tingles down her spine. </p>
<p>     Then she remembered she was holding a knife, and she could <em> quite literally </em> scrape his face off if she wanted to. So she lunged, knife straight towards his face—on mad impulse—but even she wasn’t completely surprised that he managed to catch her wrist immediately, throwing her hand aside. The force of momentum she had charged towards him with caused her body to be thrown against him, and he fell on his back once more, her hovering over him. </p>
<p>     Lauren took note of the proximity between them, and that cursed memory came rushing back. So she let him go, and almost immediately whatever temporary heat she’d accumulated as they sparred had gone, the air quickly replaced with an even sharper cold.</p>
<p>     Kieran seemed to have noticed the change, too. He inched himself further backwards, hand gripping the handle of the knife a little tighter. They sat on the ground, a good distance between each other, in silence, each to their own thoughts. </p>
<p>     And that was fine, until the cold caught up and Lauren’s whole body began shaking again. She looked over to Kieran, who was trying to keep himself warm by hugging himself, curling into a ball.</p>
<p>     “Oi,” she called out to him. He snapped his head towards her with a questioning look. But she simply stared at him for a prolonged time, until he sighed at her shaking self.</p>
<p>     “You can go warm up in the bed there,” he told her, jutting his chin to the bed’s direction. “It’s probably not too warm, but enough that—”</p>
<p>     Lauren had, in a moment of impulsion, gotten up and trudged her way towards him, and sat right next to him. Kieran raised his eyebrows, but when it became clear that she wasn’t giving him an explanation, he dropped it, instead letting himself revel in the warmth she was emitting, even if it was barely there.</p>
<p>     But the barely there warmth was tempting, and Lauren found herself wanting—no, <em> needing </em>—more.</p>
<p>     But she wasn’t just going to jump straight into his arms so easily, so she stayed where she was.</p>
<p>     Kieran looked like he was going to say something, but he kept stopping himself from doing so. Lauren wanted to tell him to just get it out, but her mouth was rendered quite immobile by the cold, and so she just kept it hung open, trembling in the slightest.</p>
<p>     After a few minutes, she could’ve sworn she was on the verge of hypothermia, and so she scooted closer, her entire right side against his left side. It didn’t feel <em> much </em> warmer, but the body heat he provided was enough to elicit a small sigh of relief.</p>
<p>     “Lauren,” Kieran said softly, preserving the delicate nature of the tension between them. Lauren herself knew best of how far she should stay away from him, having faced first hand what he could do, but she was <em> desperate </em> for some warmth, desperate to be able to feel.</p>
<p>     She took his left hand—her hand trembling, whether from the cold or the painful memory, she wasn’t sure herself—and slid her fingers between his, pressing against it to feel whatever warmth she could get under his skin. This caused Kieran to finally turn his head to stare at her in concern. </p>
<p>     “You—hey, you don’t have to do this,” Kieran said. He, however, seems to have been desperate for some warmth, too, because he held onto her hand a little tighter, pressing their arms together. </p>
<p>     “I don’t <em> want </em> to, Kieran, I <em> have </em> to,” Lauren gritted through clattering teeth, a sharp shudder following right after. </p>
<p>     Kieran sighed, and probably thought, <em> fuck it </em>, before extending his arm to envelope her body, his hand resting on her waist. He pulled her closer to him, bodies pressing, heat mingling.</p>
<p>     Lauren wasn’t quite sure whether the pleasure that ran her veins was due to the addition of warmth, or from the way his body just seemed to fit right next to hers, comfortable in all the right places. She didn’t think too much about it, though, as she put her right arm around his back, clutching his shirt so tightly like he was going to disappear if she didn’t.</p>
<p>     They were fine with their positions for a while, but the body warmth they got from each other seemed to serve as a drug in the dreary cold of the snowstorm and the cave: once you have a taste, you can never stop wanting more.</p>
<p>     Lauren took a look at Kieran from the corner of her eyes, and noticed that he was also occasionally stealing glances at her, raising his eyebrows ever so gracefully, eyes half-covered by his lids in a way that just made him look all the more entrancing. Then, before she knew it, she was moving: she brought up her left leg and crossed it over to his other side, effectively caging him between her legs. She pushed him backwards slowly to the point where she was over him, her face hovering ever so slightly above his, lips mere inches apart.</p>
<p>     And sure, that did it. Their bodies were fully pressed against each other now, and both could feel the immense heat from within their core. Her hand clutched his shirt so tightly, she was sure it could tear apart when she let go. Her mouth was slightly parted, as was his—and the warm air of their breath mingled as they stayed still, suspended in time and space.</p>
<p>     Then, it was like someone snapped, and the world resumed in motion that crashed like a waterfall, and they lunged at each other like there was no tomorrow.</p>
<p>     At the same time, Lauren dipped her face, while Kieran lifted his chin to meet her, grabbing her face ever so gently with his one hand. The gentleness did not last long—as their movements hastened, them drinking in the other’s heat, Kieran could not restrain his craving, his hands roaming around and anchoring itself in her hair. Lauren could taste everything: the dryness of his mouth, the tang of blood from having chewed his insides too much, the growing feeling of vomit from her own gut—because what the hell was she doing, roaming her tongue down his mouth, letting him suck on her lips—but she was too caught up in the high of the sweet heat to come down.</p>
<p>     Kieran propped himself upward, slowly, all while keeping a hand around Lauren’s waist to steady her and never breaking the kiss. Lauren seated herself on his thighs, her entire front pressed against him. The heat from the contact soared in her like wildfire, and she hated to admit that she would succumb to the fire. She blamed it all on the storm outside—and perhaps it was true that she would never have done this under normal circumstances. But today, she used that as an excuse and allowed herself to drown in her deepest, dirtiest desires.</p>
<p>     When they broke apart, they were both breathing very heavily, breaths hot and moist. Her hair that had been tied up had fallen out, framing the sides of his face and casting shadows on it. Sweat dripped down her forehead and his, but neither bothered to wipe them away. She brought her hand up to his chin and traced his jawline tenderly with her thumb. It was apparently enough to cause him to arch his back further, chest pressed closer against her. She would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy his current state; the way his chin jutted out, head tilted backward, eyes lidded—but more than that—the way his pupils kept alternating between constricting and dilating, as he tried his best to contain his own overwhelming irrational desire for her.</p>
<p>     It was pretty easy to lose track of all logic when you’re stuck in a snowstorm. She rested her cold hands against his neck, feeling the warmth of flesh. Her next words, uttered very recklessly, were: “Touch me.”</p>
<p>     This seemed to snap the assassin under her back to reality. “Did you happen to forget the time I almost killed you?”</p>
<p>     And she argued, “If we don’t stick together, we’d <em> both </em> be dead before the night even ends.” Though it wasn’t completely wrong, it was such a lame excuse that Kieran found himself laughing instead. Lauren glared down at him; she didn’t know whether she should be glad or not that she did, because it prompted him to do as she said, resuming their wicked pursuit of warmth, a storm brewing in the middle of winter.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the number of times i almost gave up with the story? unreal.</p>
<p>special thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naveri/pseuds/Naveri">Naveri</a> for helping me with all the stupid details on this very light spice offered to you, and proofreading the text written in between my beautiful naps! </p>
<p>this was supposed to be slightly spicier—i was inspired by an... interesting y/n fic on tumblr that was... way more graphic than i could handle but had a pretty good premise uH—but i left it there for pg reasons, and because i was too brain-dead already. so there goes.</p>
<p>anyways, uh, hope you enjoyed it! one left to go at last &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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